A Seattle couple that loved America decided to leave their $850,000 estate to the United States government.
Peter and Joan Petrasek, a childless couple, requested in their wills that the entirety of their estate be left “to the government of the
United States of America," according to The Seattle Times. That included all their accumulated wealth and cash, and the proceeds from the sale of their West Seattle home — a total of $847,215.57.
Peter Petrasek died in 2012 at the age of 85, while his wife Joan passed 13 years earlier in 1999 at age 79. With no next of kin, it took three years after Peter's death to get the estate sorted out.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Peter would have been 12 when the Nazis invaded his country.
“From what he told me, all their property was confiscated,” neighbor Ron Wright, who lived near the Petraseks for 30 years, told The Times. “The Germans hauled off his father to a camp.”
Peter Petrasek reportedly told Wright he had been placed in a camp for youths related to the Luftwaffe, or the German air force, and it was there that he learned how to fly. He also said he was once shot down and had to hike into Switzerland.
A certificate of marriage shows the couple was married in July 1951 in Ottawa, Canada. Later, they moved to Seattle after Petrasek researched regions where they thought they would like to live, Wright said.
Peter Winn, an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle, shared his theory on the Petraseks' decision to donate their money to the government.
“As a refugee from World War II, he was very grateful to his adopted country. He grew up with a lot of people in Eastern Europe who would have been happy to change places with him,” Winn told The Times. “There are still a lot of people in the world who would envy him the life he lived. He wanted to make a statement about how much it meant to him to be an American citizen.”
“He really must have just appreciated the opportunity he had here in the U.S,”
neighbor Marisa Deligerza told Kirotv.com.
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